The elder's death beneath his strike came as no surprise to Ju Hua. There was no reason the man could have blocked that move!
Earlier, Ju Hua had used only his insights into the Dao of the Sword and had fought the elder to a standstill. But that last strike had contained all his strength, and its power far surpassed anything he had shown before.
On the God-Fiend Path, Ju Hua had already reached the Perfected Primal God-Fiend level. Because he cultivated the supreme Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens, even though he was only a Perfected Primal God-Fiend, he was no weaker than other God-Fiend body refiners at the Initial Void Refinement Stage.
At the same cultivation level, God-Fiend body refinement was inherently stronger than Qi Refinement. The Earth Immortal Golden Lotus had also been damaged when he survived his tribulation, leaving his magic power only eighty percent as pure as before. Thus, even though his God-Fiend body refinement was merely equivalent to the Initial Void Refinement Stage, it was still no weaker than the foundation of his Qi Refinement Path.
However, Ju Hua was still considerably stronger on the Qi Refinement Path than in God-Fiend body refinement, because he had the Litian Sword Formation! Nine top-grade immortal swords—what a tremendous boost to his strength!
Besides, Ju Hua had long ago comprehended the seventh stance of the Great Sorrow Sword Art, the "Heaven Sword Style." But since he had been cultivating in seclusion all this time, something had always been missing. Even after all these years, he had felt that he was still a little short of the eighth stance of the Great Sorrow Sword Art.
Today, when he had clashed fiercely with the elder, Ju Hua's original intention had been to make his opponent lower his guard and, while he was at it, probe the man's strength. But what he hadn't expected was that he would break through right then and there!
With that breakthrough, Ju Hua's strength had naturally surged once more.
When he killed the elder just now, Ju Hua had used his newly comprehended sword move without hesitation. More terrifying still, that strike contained part of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, which he had already incorporated into the Dao of the Sword.
Over the years, Ju Hua hadn't devoted much effort to merging the two Daos, so he had made little progress in that respect. Even so, the power of this strike far surpassed what he could achieve by using the Dao of the Sword alone to drive his immortal swords!
More than that, Ju Hua's strike had also been amplified by Heartforce!
Ever since he had inadvertently applied Heartforce to archery, Ju Hua had realized that he possessed astonishing talent in this path as well. As a result, he had spent no small amount of effort studying it!
Just as Ju Hua had expected, it hadn't taken long for him to apply Heartforce to his sword.
At first, his technique had been crude, but after years of refinement, it had finally taken shape. When he used it now, at least some of his Heartforce was no longer wasted for nothing.
Ten years of honing himself in the Illusion Demon Realm had also brought Ju Hua's Heartforce level forward by leaps and bounds. He was now only a step away from the third level, "Dominator." Though he had only struck once just now, nearly a third of his Heartforce had been used up in that single blow!
The expenditure was terrifying, but Ju Hua's Heartforce technique was now quite refined, so very little was wasted. As a result, the strike's power had been amplified to a truly fearsome degree.
A more powerful treasure, a Dao that was far stronger than before, and terrifying Heartforce—all three combined. The elder might have been a Celestial Immortal, but he was far from being a top-tier one. How could he possibly have blocked Ju Hua's strike?
So Ju Hua hadn't found it strange for even a moment that he had blasted the elder to smithereens with one strike!
After putting away the elder's treasures, Ju Hua began clearing the battlefield.
He felt little guilt about killing the elder. The man had brought death upon himself by attacking first. Ju Hua had killed him while striking back, and there was nothing to criticize about that.
But the elder had come to investigate the Illusion Demon Realm on Emperor Xia's orders. Whatever Emperor Xia's reaction might be to his sudden death, the Celestial Immortals stationed nearby would at least come to investigate.
Celestial Immortals could reverse time and space to retrace past events. It was just like when Ji Ning, enraged, killed the young lord of the Shaoyan Clan in Desolate Era, only for a Celestial Immortal of the Shaoyan Clan to reverse time and space and uncover the truth.
But at Ju Hua's current level, he had ways to interfere with an ordinary Celestial Immortal's investigation.
Ju Hua had already learned the eighth stance of the Great Sorrow Sword Art. He was now not far from comprehending the entire Dao of the Sword. If he couldn't even handle something like this, all his cultivation would have been for nothing!
After disrupting space-time, a satisfied look appeared on Ju Hua's face. Now, even if a Celestial Immortal came to investigate and found the site of their battle, they wouldn't learn a thing about what had happened.
Unless a Pure Yang True Immortal came in person, the path of retracing time was closed!
Yet in the Great Xia World, aside from the hidden ancestors of the great clans, Emperor Xia was the only true Pure Yang True Immortal!
Would Emperor Xia personally come to Autumn Mountain Great Marsh to investigate for the sake of a single Celestial Immortal? It was possible, but highly unlikely!
The dead elder had been no more than an ordinary Celestial Immortal. Emperor Xia might not think much of him!
Of course, there were no walls without cracks. Ju Hua knew he could hide this for a time, but not forever!
If Emperor Xia truly wanted to investigate, he could use other methods even without retracing space-time. Ju Hua could think of several himself.
For example, he could find someone skilled in the Dao of Deduction to divine the killer's identity!
Of course, the person would have to be more than merely skilled. They would have to be exceptionally skilled.
Ju Hua was only a Loose Immortal, but he was absurdly powerful for one, and he had an Immortal Abode passed down from Daoist Sanshou. If an ordinary person tried to divine his identity, they would only find him indistinct and impossible to make out.
If directly divining Ju Hua was already that difficult, it would be even harder to divine his identity through the dead elder!
There were too many uncertainties in this world, and Ju Hua had no foolproof plan. But since he had acted, he would have no regrets!
All he could do now was do the very best he could. If he really was discovered, Ju Hua wouldn't just sit and wait for death!
He already had several plans to deal with it!
After clearing away every trace, Ju Hua left the area swiftly, acting as though nothing had happened.
He took a long detour and flew nearly ten thousand li without stopping. Then he picked a mountain at random, carved out a cave residence there, and began cultivating in silence.
At a time like this, Ju Hua naturally couldn't leave the Illusion Demon Realm. Wouldn't that make him look guilty?
Less than half an hour after Ju Hua left, two figures passed through the edge of the Illusion Demon Realm and sped toward its interior.
One was a man whose face was lined with age; the other was an old woman with silver hair.
Judging by their auras, both were Celestial Immortals!
After flying for a while, the man called out to the old woman to stop. He took a tortoiseshell-shaped treasure from his person and began chanting and casting a spell.
A long while later, the man put away the tortoiseshell treasure. He then sent a few words to the old woman through voice transmission, and the two set off again.
They moved swiftly, heading straight for the heart of the Illusion Demon Realm!